September news: We launch 2 new participation resources
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In this month’s issue:
The Participation Playbook: Now LIVE
Launch of Digital Participation Training
Results of the 17 Rooms initiative
Climate Democracy Accelerator in action in Zimbabwe
New resources, articles, funding opportunities and more!
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Opportunities 💡
The Participation Playbook is now LIVE!
The Participation Playbook is an interactive online guide to help you successfully advocate for and implement a participatory program for your government or community. The Playbook synthesizes global knowledge on participation and makes it widely available in an accessible format. It walks you through the key design questions for planning a participatory program, such as participatory budgeting or a citizens’ assembly, providing just-in-time information, data, and options each step of the way.
Hundreds of government reformers have been testing and revising the beta version for the past year, and now you can use the Playbook to plan your own participatory program — for free!
One of the unique aspects of the Participation Playbook is its development by practitioners from around the world. We interviewed the four senior fellows who served as lead authors, and they share the challenges they faced and offer tips for getting the most out of the interactive guide.
New digital participation training now available
Running a digital participation program can be intimidating with the number of platforms and approaches available. Our Digital Participation Online Training will help you cut through all the noise with a free, self-paced resource that takes you through the steps of running and improving your program. Register for our launch event to learn more!
Updates 📢
From one-off engagement to system change: How do we mainstream citizen participation in government?
How can we turn one-off innovations in participatory and deliberative democracy into systemic change? To address this challenge, the 17 Rooms initiative of the Brookings Institution and The Rockefeller Foundation invited Josh Lerner of People Powered and Diana Dajer of Fundación Corona to facilitate a global planning process.
Josh and Diana brought together a global team of 15 experts to identify and prioritize the top three actionable ways to mainstream participatory and deliberative democracy around the world. We are now working with the Room 16 organizations to turn the three proposals into reality. Learn about the process and the global priorities in our blog post.
Participatory policymaking offers ‘disruptive’ response to climate change
After a devastating cyclone, learn how the People Powered Climate Democracy Accelerator is forging new paths in Zimbabwe. Harnessing the power of participatory policymaking, local communities actively craft their own solutions to pressing climate issues with the help of our expert mentors and on-ground practitioners. A must-read for those committed to enhancing participatory governance and environmental resilience.
What We’re Reading 📖
Citizens' assemblies are like jury duty, but for getting things done
Democracy Solutions Project: voting on how tax money is spent
A Rising Stars mentee was appointed by the Nigerian president to be a senior special advisor
Upcoming Events 🗓️
October 17: Digital Participation Platforms Online Training launch event (virtual)
November 6-8: International Observatory on Participatory Democracy Conference, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
Funding and Calls 💲
October 23: The Commonwealth Foundation's Open Grants Call is providing grants of up to £30,000 for projects related to health justice, freedom of expression, climate justice and more.
January 21: OGP Local has released a call for expressions of interest from local governments. Up to 50 new local governments will be accepted in 2024.
Rolling: Multitudes Foundation has an open call for incubation and scaling grants for organizations building more inclusive politics in Europe.